lørdag 5. februar 2011

Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji (Original Soundtrack)

In celebrations for a second season being announced for Kaiji, I will be recommending the soundtrack to the first series. One of the best soundtracks in Japanese anime if you put it into the right context.

The Show:

Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji, or Kaiji shortened follows the main character with the very same name. Kaiji is a frustrated individual that spends most of his time slashing car tires and stealing car emblems. Unfortunately for Kaiji he co-signed a loan years back together with a work mate. Unfortunately his work matedied, and the loan has reached a significant amount of interests. Thus Kaiji is looking at a debt of around 4million yen hardly anything he can afford to pay off. He then gets one chance to clear his debt, by participating in illegal gambling in a boat. Once on the boat every participant bets with further loaned money, some win, many lose and end up even further down in debt.

Kaiji is very much a psychological anime, as it looks at how people react to different situations during tight situations such as gambling. I can highly recommend this show to anyone interested in anime.

Unfortunately it has proven very difficult to actually find footage of the anime itself, thus you will have to settle with footage from the live action movie. Regardless the live action movie follows the story almost the same way as the anime does, thus it should be enough to grasp the idea of the show.

Oh yeah..in some parts of the show they gamble participating against each other in "Rock, Paper, Scissors", how awesome isn't that?

The Soundtrack:

Genre: Soundtrack, anime, rock

Composed by: Hideki Taniuchi

Playlist:

DISC 1:

1. "This World" - (3:30)

2. "Beam of Light" - (2:03)

3. "Lot" - (1:47)

4. "Kaiji" - (2:31)

5. "Man Racetrack" - (2:15)

6. "Green" - (3:07)

7. "Wish" - (3:38)

8. "Line of Light" - (2:55)

9 . "String of Light" - (1:12)

10. "Memories" - (3:12)

11. "This World II" - (1:42)

12. "Kaiji Theme" - (2:04)

13. "Predicament" - (2:11)

14. "Espoir" - (3:05)

15. "Despair" - (2:52)

16. "Ship of Hope" - (1:55)

17. "Regret" - (1:50)

18. "Chest" - (2:15)

19. "Child's Mind" - (2:13)

20. "This World III" - (3:03)

21. "Beginning" - (1:58)

22. "Mirai wa bokura no te no naka" - (2:29)

23. "Makeinu-tachi no Requiem"

One of the best aspects of the anime Kaiji is the soundtrack itself. The soundtrack can be split into two different albums, personally I prefer the first one easily over the second one. Unfortunately I don't think this is the type of soundtrack many will enjoy from not having watched the series. With many soundtracks, you can jump into it and like it right away without knowing anything about the show. But in this case I'm not sure if I'm able to agree. Don't get me wrong, the soundtrack is great but for full enjoyment you need to hear the music while watching the show.

The first disc mainly concerns itself of the series "main tracks" while the second disc contains music where you can really feel the despair Kaiji is going through. The series has its depressing moments, and defeats for Kaiji and it is these tracks that are associated with these moments. So while the first disc is a bit more balanced, the second is pretty much associated with all the difficult moments Kaiji goes through.

DISC 2:

Tracklist:

1. "Ko zawa zawa 1" - (1:57)

2. "Ko zawa zawa 2" - (2:08)

3. "Chuu zawa zawa 1" - (1:36)

4. "Dai zawa zawa" - (1:39)

5. "Dai zawa zawa 2" - (2:20)

6. "Chuu zawa zawa 2" - (1:14)

7. "Dai zawa zawa 1" - (2:15)

8. "Bell" - (1:16)

9. "Brain Training" - (1:22)

10. "Strategy" - (1:45)

11. "Chaos" - (2:52)

12. "Confusion" - (1:39)

13. "Defeat" - (3:17)

14. "Shadow" - (1:52)

15. "Chorus" - (1:43)

16. "Rest" - (1:34)

17. "Stagnation" - (2:08)

18. "Ko zawa inst 1" - (1:56)

19. "Ko zawa inst 2" - (2:08)

20. "Chuu zawa inst 1" - (1:36)

21. "Chuu zawa inst 2" -(1:14)

22. "Dai zawa inst 1" - (2:15)

23. "Dai zawa inst 2" - (2:20)

24. "Dai dai zawa inst" - (1:39)

25. "Defeated Again" - (1:45)

26. "Chousou" - (0:19)

27. "Minamari kamo" - (0:46)

28. "Akuma no ikikake" - (0:34)

29. "Shinon no ichibyou ga karamu" - (0:20)

30. "Suiteki no zawameki" - (0:30)

As I earlier said I'm more fond of the first disc, but the "zawa zawa" albuma as it is called also has quite its moments as well. Most noteably is the "dai zawa zawa" tracks.

You might be wondering just about now, what does zawa zawa mean? This quote is taken from Urban Dictionary and explains it the best:

"Zawa - ざわ‥ A japanese onomatopoeia meaning uneasy atmosphere. Used a lot by Nobuyuki Fukumoto, a japanese manga artist."